Geolocation data corresponding to various aspects of one's activities is readily available. For example, many users have a Global Positioning System (GPS) associated with their activities in one way or another. Such GPS devices are installed in many automobiles today, either as stand-alone transportable units, or as integrated units positioned in the dashboard of the automobile as purchased. Additionally, many watches and smart phones are now available with embedded GPS receivers and the availability to access a mapping application for providing real-time global positioning and tracking capability.
While it is straightforward to determine the path of a user through the use of GPS, a temporal history of one's whereabouts can also be gleaned from many other sources. Even without a GPS receiver, the location of a cell phone on one's person can be roughly estimated from the regularly timed pings received from the device at a nearest receiver tower. More detailed location data is available when a user activates the cell phone to place a call. Similarly, information about the geolocation history and habits of users may be recorded from various internet and smart phone applications, such as FACEBOOK®, TWITTER®, FOURSQUARE®, and other social media applications, including those through which users voluntarily and routinely “check-in” or otherwise publish information of their physical locations at any particular time.
Another source of geolocation data is payment card usage. Both users and issuers of payment cards are particularly concerned with preventing unauthorized use of payment cards as early as possible. If a payment card user opts in to a payment card security system by providing his or her cell phone number, a direct correlation can be made between every point-of-sale purchase and the contemporaneous location of the user's cell phone. In co-owned, co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/457,701, filed Apr. 27, 2012, entitled “Method for Providing Payment Card Security using Registrationless Telecom Geolocation Capture,” by Howe et al., a method for enabling secure payment card usage without requiring a user to enroll or register is provided. A geo-temporal history of a payment card user's point-of-sale purchases is tracked to compare geolocation information for cell phones operated by a mobile network provider to contemporaneous cell phone location in order to match cell phone owners to their payment card accounts. A unique identification number can be assigned by the network provider in lieu of providing the matching cell phone numbers to the payment card issuer in order to maintain privacy. The identity of a payment card user can then be securely verified by the merchant in future purchases by querying the mobile network operator for the location of the payment card user's cell phone number (corresponding to the Identification Number) at the time of the purchase.
There is a continuing need in addressing payment card theft and fraud, for authenticating the identity of a card user based on the card user's point of sale as well as other usage, without the need for a user to enroll in a credit fraud reporting service. There is also a need, not addressed in any prior art, for relating databases of users' on-line or other recorded social activity(s) (such as cell phone, FACEBOOK®, FOURSQUARE®, and so-on) to match-up a user's activity recorded for one service with a different activity recorded for another service. Such information could be useful, for example, in developing targeted advertising campaigns.